Miranda Trip Day Four- Centro and Party Time!

Hola Chicas!  I told you I would be back!  Have to catch up a bit.  So Saturday was the day we decided to head into Centro de Lima to check out some touristy things and do Miranda (and my) souvenir shopping for way cheaper than in Miraflores.  We started out just wandering around Centro and snapping some photos.  This is where the Presidential Palace is located as well as some other gorgeous spanish Colonial buildings.  We even got our picture taken with one of the guards at the Palace after we watched the changing of the guard.

We continued on and wandered down to the San Francisco Cathedral which is the location of the largest Catacombs in Lima.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the church or Catacombs but I managed to sneak some.  There are 25 000 bodies in the catacombs and the bones were organized and counted recently by Archeologists so most of the bones are now in the pits sorted by type.  The pits are 3-4 metres deep and there is a well that was originally used for seismic protection for the church (they say that if it wasn't there the church would have collapsed hundreds of years ago in an earthquake) but is now filled 10 metres deep with bones.  

When we were done, we were hungry so we headed to a restaurant that is directly across the square from the Palace.  It is up on the 3rd floor and has a breathtaking view of Centro and the Palace as well as San Cristobal behind the palace.  

Miranda had been wanting to get some souvenirs for friends at home and I wanted to get some as well. The stores just across from the cathedral are the best priced as well as friendly and quiet.  We both made quite a haul and poor Josh got to carry all my stuff.  From there we grabbed a cab and headed to Polvos Azules, which I have blogged about before.  It is the black market kind of between our place and downtown.  Miranda and I ended up getting some Louis Vuitton handbags.  It is also quite an experience!  Here is a photo of my loot from our trip downtown.  A new hoody, some scarves, a new Alpaca poncho and my Louis.  Josh also got a really nice red Peru sweater as well.

We headed home from Polvos and got cleaned up and walked over to Saqra for a birthday supper for both Josh (Sept 15th) and Miranda (Sept 27th). On the way there we came across this interesting van and we finally stopped at the Tanya Trahtemberg jewelry store down the street from our place.  Oh and yes that is a glass of champagne in my hand if you were wondering ;)

  

 Once again Saqra did not disappoint. I tried the Ravioli in chili pepper sauce. To die for!  After a great meal we headed out to several bars for some drinks.  We also came across this guy:

and this shirt:

and Miranda the Viking:

There we go, almost caught up.  Check me out again tomorrow for our hungover trip to the Pachacamac ruins!